Various types of personal vaporizers have been known in the art for many years. In general, such vaporizers are characterized by heating a solid to a smoldering point, vaporizing a liquid by heat, or nebulizing a liquid by heat and/or by expansion through a nozzle. Such devices are designed to release aromatic materials in the solid or liquid while avoiding high temperatures of combustion and associated formation of tars, carbon monoxide, or other harmful byproducts. Preferably, the device releases a very fine mist with a mouth feel similar to smoke, under suction. Thus, a vaporizing device can be made to mimic traditional smoking articles such as cigarettes, cigars, pipes and hookahs in certain aspects, while avoiding significant adverse health effects of traditional tobacco or other herbal consumption.
While the inhalable vapor or mist from a vaporizer mimics these traditional smoking articles, current personal vaporizers do not simulate other aspects of the smoking experience. For example, when smoking a traditional cigarette, the burning ember at the end of the cigarette releases smoke that changes in intensity as the cigarette is being drawn, as the draw is stopped, and as the time since the previous draw increases. This burning ember of the cigarette also emits a sound and emits a glow that each vary based on whether the cigarette is being drawn and the length of time since the previous draw.
It would be desirable, therefore, to develop new technologies for simulating traditional smoking articles that overcomes these and other limitations of the prior art.